I still see so many people handing out business cards advertising their free-mail account as their email address, when in fact they do already have their own website (I know this because it is printed right below or next to their email address). In other words, they have already registered a domain name and for example, they may have a website address of www.bobsbusiness.com.au, and they are still using an email address of bobsbusiness@hotmail.com (or another one of the free-mail providers). Their email address could be bob@bobsbusiness.com.au, or sales@bobsbusiness.com.au with no extra expense and quite a few added benefits.

I’ve thought about the possibilities (and listed them below) of why this is the case and I’m quite interested to see if these are in fact true. In addition to that I’ve included some suggestions on the benefits of changing your email address over to your own domain name.

Possible reasons for businesses still using a free-mail account:

• They started using the account long before their domain name was registered and therefore:

* Don’t want to change their address

* Think it is too difficult to change their address

* Don’t have the time to worry about it

• Aren’t aware that their web hosting provider offers email accounts included with their website hosting

• Think that the space quota given by their free account is bigger than their hosting provider, so they don’t want to move

• Tried it, but too difficult to use the email service offered by their hosting provider, or they are just used to the free account’s interface and possibly prefer it

Suggestions and benefits on why (and how) to make the change:

• Find out how many email accounts are included with your web hosting service (if it’s not enough, have a look around for a hosting provider with enough accounts to suit your needs)

• Find out what web interface email service they offer? There are many easy to use interfaces similar, if not better than your current free-mail provider’s

• A better option than the above web interface option is to setup Microsoft Outlook, Entourage on your Mac or another email software program to automatically check your email hosted by your web hosting provider. Doing it this way negates the reason for logging into the web interface all the time. And yes, you still maintain the ability to access a web interface when you’re away from your own PC. Your hosting provider will easily be able to help you set this up

• Another benefit of using Outlook or a similar option is the fact that you’re not reliant on a set space quota anymore. Your emails will now be stored on your PC

• You can (in most cases) automatically forward your old email account to the new one and therefore slowly phase out that account. Or, for a small annual fee (as with hotmail), also receive emails from this account to Outlook (you will only need to do this for a few months until everyone knows your new address). This way, whenever you reply to an email sent to your old address it will show up as the new address to the recipient

• Once you’ve changed over, you will be advertising your business name every time you give out your email address

• Get the email address you want and manage staff email better, instead of having bobsbusiness@hotmail.com or bob12345@hotmail.com, you can have numerous email accounts going directly to the correct staff member’s computers

• Looks more professional

• Easier for your customers to remember

These are just some of the benefits of setting up email accounts using your existing domain. Have a look on your web hosting providers’ website and see what they have to offer. Go ahead, make the change!

Gavin Payne has been involved in the Hosting industry for over 6 years working with global companies including AT&T, VISA, Peugeot, BMW, Motorola and many others. Today he's the managing director of NewSprout.com.au, an Australian website hosting and domain registration company that provides total web hosting solutions to business and personal clients. For more information visit http://www.newsprout.com.au

Source: www.a1articles.com